What I'm trying to do here is to assess and measure visitors' likeness to visit eating destinations in Bali, based on scoring of several factors: the cuisine's degree of uniqueness, guest's venturesomeness, and other related modifiers. This is a work in progress (WIP).

Degree of uniqueness

Cuisine ▽	Westerners	Asian	Indonesian
Indonesian	3	3	1
Balinese	3	3	3
Asian	2	1	1
Western	1	2	2

Scoring:
3 - highly unique
2 - somewhat unique
1 - not unique/very familiar

Explanation:

Indonesian cuisine is highly unique for both Westerners and Asian (3), since its presence is still rare outside Indonesia. Indonesian cuisine though, is not unique to Indonesian (1) because it's their native cuisine.

Balinese cuisine is highly unique for all three groups of visitor (3), since it's presence is still rare outside Bali.

Asian cuisine is only somewhat unique to Westerners (2) considering its wide spread into the global world. It's not unique to Asian visitors (1) since it's their native cuisine, and it's not unique to Indonesian too (1) since it's already considered as a common cuisine, and good Asian restaurants are already flourished in Indonesian cities.

Western cuisine is not unique to Westerners (1) since it's their native cuisine, while it's somewhat unique for Asian visitors (2) considering its already global spread, and it's somewhat unique for Indonesian too (2), considering it's already wide spread in Indonesian cities.

Application:

Based on uniqueness factor alone,

• For Westerners, suggest eateries serving Indonesian and Balinese cuisine.
• For Asian, suggest eateries serving Indonesian and Balinese cuisine.
• For Indonesian, suggest eateries serving Balinese cuisine, or Western cuisine (2nd best) 

Venturesomeness

Another factor to consider is the visitor's venturesomeness or their willingness to adventure vs. preference to stay in their comfort zone. While global travelers are assumed to have high venturesomeness level, those traveling with children or big families often are not. In those two different conditions, highly unique cuisines would attracts people with high venturesomeness level, but repels those who have low venturesomeness level, for example:

• For Asian visitors traveling with children and families (low venturesomeness level/lv), recommendation on Asian or Western cuisine might works better compared to Indonesian or Balinese cuisine.
• For Asian visitors traveling as couple (high venturesomeness level/hv), recommendation on Indonesian or Balinese food would be considered great, and they would welcomes Western cuisine too, but less interested on Asian cuisine.

Other Modifiers

Other factors to consider are different modifiers related with the eatery reputation itself, for example:

• Fame: Famous +1, infamous -1
• Atmosphere: Good +1, bad -1
• Location: Exotic +1, bad -1
• Distance: Close +1, far -1
• Cleanliness: Clean +1, dirty -2

Considering these modifiers, some western restaurants might excite westerners into coming if it's famous, having a good atmosphere in an exotic location, easy to reach and are know to be very clean, e.g.: Metis & Sarong in Petitenget, Trattoria and Ultimo in Oberoi.

On the other hand Balinese eateries might not attract westerners when it's relatively unknown, having common atmosphere in a common location, it's quite far, and its cleanliness are unknown. e.g.: Nasi Ayam Betutu Panggang Kadek Wati in Gatot Subroto, Betutu Liku in Gandapura, and most of Balinese streetfood. (byms)

Henry in front of his cafe, courtesy of Daily Telegraph [02]

While Henry Mulyana thinks he's tough enough to deal with public criticism, believing he didn't cross any laws, and he didn't mean to portray racism with the opening of The Soldatenkaffee; a Nazi themed cafe in Bandung, the odds eventually turned against him.

The Jakarta Globe, who started the chain reaction with their concerns on ethics when doing featured article on this cafe, three days later pronounced that the cafe is now closed down amid the media criticism. It happens because since the concern was first published by The Jakarga Globe on 16 July, The Soldatenkaffee Bandung has sparked international interest all the way to Europe.

A perspective issue

Reviewing this case, what came into my mind is a scene from this famous movie, that sets a new standard for food-themed movies, Ratatouille:

"Yes, I think I do. After reading a lot of overheated puffery about your new cook, you know what I'm craving? A little perspective. That's it. I'd like some fresh, clear, well seasoned perspective. Can you suggest a good wine to go with that?" ~Anton Ego, Ratatouille (2007)

Align with the sinister Anton Ego's quote, I think what missing from The Soldatenkaffee is perspective; while it's true that people resonates differently with Nazi and Holocaust issue, some even suspect that it never happened, and Henry himself likes only the visualization part of the Nazi regime; however what he's dealing in this case is not about truth, or his opinion, but about people's perspective, and it's beyond his reach or power to influence.

While in the past the only audience The Soldatenkaffee exposed to are limited to its guests, and they don't really matter with Nazi and Hitler related memorabilia since there's a big chance those knowing this place are those already attracted by the same thing; things were pretty quiet.

I mean I get in touch with Jakarta and Bandung foodies regularly, but never they brought up a discussion about this unique cafe, while The Soldatenkaffee itself has been around since 2011. I didn't even know they exist before the Jakarta Globe's coverage article.

Henry inside his cafe, courtesy of The Jakarta Globe [01]

But once exposed into a national, then international scale with the coverage on foreign newspaper, now Henry and The Soldatenkaffee have a different kind of audience to deal with, and there has been a perspective shift as well.

Internationally Nazi regime is still considered as one of the darkest page in human's history, and it won't change with a cafe bringing fresh perspective on Nazi's uniform coolness. Henry bringing Soeharto's Orde Baru into the picture too, as comparison on how dictatorship could be seen from different view, is a justification only good for himself but is not valid enough to shift international perspective.

According to Australia's Daily Telegraph, the news about the cafe has even sparked outrage among Jewish communities in other parts of the world.

"The Simon Wiesenthal Center is reaching out to senior Indonesian diplomats to express on behalf of our 400,000 members and victims of the Nazi Holocaust our outrage and disgust," Rabbi Abraham Cooper, from the Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights group, told AFP by email. "We expect that all appropriate measures will be taken to close down this business celebrating a genocidal ideology that at its core denigrates people of colour and all non-Aryans," he wrote. [02]

Since the international coverage then alarmed the Bandung authorities, Henry and The Soldatenkaffee found himself not only dealing with international audience, but also with a small group of audience powerful enough to decide his cafe's fate; Indonesian government.

Judging by how Indonesian Government tend to play it safe especially with international audience, there's a big chance they will adhere to the international perspective into condemning Nazi regime; making the odds really shifted against the The Soldatenkaffee.

Finding refuge in Bali

However we might not be seeing the end of Henry and The Soldatenkaffee, as Henry did expect this sort of thing into happen, and during his interview with The Daily Telegraph he mentioned to have another cafe to be build in Bali.

“I realized that displaying the Nazi symbol was going to spark some controversy, but I decided to go for it because I don’t feel I’m violating any laws,” [01]

"I'll certainly display Hitler's image, as well as Winston Churchill's, and paraphernalia from American and Japanese soldiers from World War II" [02]

The question is: will Bali's big pluralism heart welcomes Henry and The SoldatenKaffee, along with its perspective issue? (byms)

Source:
[01] http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/bandung-nazi-themed-cafe-closed-amid-media-criticism/
[02] http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/nazithemed-cafe-in-indonesia-sparks-global-outrage/story-fni0c8lh-1226683047713
[03] http://beatmag.com/daily/bandung-nazi-cafe-causes-concern/

What suits best Bali's warm weather and sea breezes? Chef Allen Stevano; the winner of HelloBali magazine's Chef Wars 2012 brought forward an energetic symphony of three course meal: Seafood Chowder with Sea Urchin Cream, Seafood Risotto with Seafood Garlic & Thyme Foam, and Massaman Seafood Curry with longan and water chestnut.

Set by the pool of this newly built Mantra Hotels, Nusa Dua, Bali, all the guests of the Epicure Indonesia Masterclass are first welcomed by Nining Widyawati, Epicure Indonesia's Head of Marketing, then followed up by Chef Allen explaining the dishes that he will cook that afternoon, its ingredients, including the micro herbs he'll be using; collections of tiny living herb and salad leaves harvested at seed or first true leaf stage. They are specially selected for their intense flavors, or visual impact and colors.

Massaman Seafood Curry with Longan and Water Chestnut

Once crowned as the world's most delicious food back in 2011 by CNNGo, Massaman Curry was the dish that opened the audience of Epicure Indonesia Masterclass into the cooking style of Chef Allen Stevano; which brings into table the years of experience in Jakarta, London, Auckland, and Macau. Originated from the muslim populated part of Thailand, Massaman Curry usually consisted of beef, chicken or any other meat allowed by the Islamic dietary law. 

While prawn, snapper, and squid certainly belong inside a Seafood Curry, but longan? I recon pineapple is a more common pair, therefore reading longan alongside the seafood on the list of ingredients got me curious. Upon asked why, Chef Allen replied that it's related with "the surprise elements" or a "plot twist" that gives the cooking a nice surprise. 

Skilfully preparing the dish, chef Allen guided us through each steps of the cooking process while continuously engaging the audience with explanations, reasons & logic behind different cooking style, help picking up the micro herbs, read out the menu instructions, and even quizzes related to cooking.

Chef Allen also actively involving the guests to taste and assess each stage of the cooking; how does it taste, does it have enough salt, sugar, or whether is there any dominant taste? He did these to continually stresses the importance of tasting the food in each cooking stage, so we can adjust the flavor early to let it infuse, therefore maintaining the overall taste composition intact. Related with tasting, he also set out a rule of 'no smoking' during working hours for his crews, since smoking are known to shift our taste balance.

After minutes of very engaging cooking demo, the Massaman Seafood Curry is finally ready. The one Chef Allen cooked goes to the display table for Epicure Indonesia's documentation (photos and videos), while those prepared by his crews goes into our dining table.

The Massaman Seafood Curry has a pleasant fragrant, creamy gravy, with just mild level of spiciness. The combination of what goes in there created a nice texture play, and the longan proven to be a wonderful surprise; I'd never thought fruit that sweet would goes along with the curry's strong spices, but turned out that the longan's umami character really binds well with the gravy's creamy flavor.

Seafood Chowder with Sea Urchin Cream

Next came the dish Chef Allen promised easy to make, yet still highly satisfying: a chowder; thickened soup usually made up with milk and cream. Chowder differs with cream soup by the existence of vegetable or meat chunks. Originally chowder related specifically to New England's fishermen's stew, and the word itself came from the French chaudiere, meaning "kettle" or "pot."

As a common habit, wine are introduced to the chowders liquid as well, it's then simmered until all of its alcohol evaporated to avoid the bitter taste. What's very specific in the dish Chef Allen cooked though, is the inclusion of sea urchin cream. Closely associated with Japanese food, the sea urchin are made into thick earth colored cream, resulting in a creamy and slightly metallic taste.

Just like the first dish, with Seafood Chowder Chef Allen reminded the audience about the importance of "sight, taste, smell" of a dish prepared, and how the flavors should be arranged in layers to create a meaningful taste journey.

With those tenets in mind, he poured spoonful of Sea Urchin cream into the bottom of the plate, then arranged the pan seared seafood on top of it, poured just enough part of the soup to keep the chunks of seafood visible, dripped a minute amount of chili oil, then finally dressed the dish with micro herbs.

The result as you can see below, looks good and chic enough for the food photo session.

Back in our table, the mass version that Chef Allen's crews created looks less stunning with all of its ingredients submerged (photo below), but it still packs a full amount of foodgasm nonetheless. The chowder was creamy, sweet, full with savory chunks of butter-seared seafood (Chef Allen is a butter fans), however I found the Sea Urchin cream only moderately tinted the overall composition, so it wasn't as much surprising as the Massaman Seafood Curry.

Seafood Risotto with Seafood Garlic & Thyme Foam

Then came our last session for that afternoon, where Chef Allen is cooking us a Risotto. Being a very engaging host, he first introduced us to the basic of cooking Risotto; what sort of rice used (he used Arborio btw), what goes into it, then continue the conversation during the cooking process: how much water should you add, watch when the rice starts to turn translucent, the final consistency of a Paella, why he put the ingredients clockwise on the cooking pan, how to create the foam with gelatin and introducing air into it, etc. Very informative it almost feels like I can immediately replicate the dish back at home.

As with the 'plot twist' prepared for this dish, Chef Allen relies on the smoked ingredients to give the Risotto a more robust flavor. He smoked the ingredients himself in the kitchen, involving a mesh-tray, metal canister, and untreated wood sawdust as the smoking agent. He then put the smoked ingredients early just after the Risotto rice is half-cooked to let the smoky aroma embodied throughout the dish.

Putting some Risotto as the base on the plate, Chef Allen then proceed to arrange some chunks of seafood on top, poured two spoonful of Seafood Garlic & Thyme Foam, then sprinkled some micro herb afterward.

The crowd version of the dish on our table looks quite identical, though the foam might have dissolved a bit after quite a while it stays there, left for photo shooting the 'hero' product created by Chef Allen.

While taste wise the Risotto was the lightest of the three, but for me it holds the plot twist that makes it the superstar of that 3 course meal. Why?

Because even though the 'al dente' Risotto rice goes along nicely with the seafood sweet savory broth, and the butter seared seafood adds robust flavor, the plot twist coming from the smoked ingredients introduced early on, was really foodgasmic. The smokiness and milkiness has been deeply absorbed by the rice compound, and it evoked a playful feeling that set the overall tune and taste of the dish. The foam itself only lends a vague garlic and thyme aroma, but it adds balance to the dynamic Risotto flavor.

The late lunch was then closed up with tea & coffee, but I found myself already full with the dishes and the wonderful desserts presented afterward -- including the very delicious marble sized macarons -- so I have to excused myself early from the premise. Beside, I parked in "express park" section of the hotel, and I still have to spare a time fighting the traffic madness at the By Pass Ngurah Rai's new roundabout nearby the Airport.

What I can conclude from the Epicure Indonesia Masterclass with Chef Allen Stevano is that he has a trait in becoming a tutor or lecturer; or even a TV personality. I'm impressed with the amount of information he's willing to share, and how he managed to engage the audience in an interactive conversation.

While I liked the Seafood Risotto the best, and the Massaman Curry next, I believe those three dishes represents well the seaside atmosphere experience of Bali. (byms)

Bepergian dengan Mandala Air bulan Juli 2013 ini? Jangan lupa buka halaman 18 untuk informasi mengenai trend Locavore; mengonsumsi makanan yang tumbuh, dibudidayakan, atau diproduksi secara lokal, di daerah Ubud, Bali, persembahan Epicurina.

Ada tiga restoran yang dibahas, pertama Warung Bodag Maliah nya Sari Organik, yang hanya bisa ditempuh berjalan kaki di pematang sawah selama 10 menitan (atau numpang ojek); kedua Plantation Restaurant di Alila Ubud Hotel yang menyajikan aneka hidangan internasional dengan kadar muatan lokal hingga 95%; ketiga Warung Pulau Kelapa yang banyak dibicarakan oleh para penikmat kuliner profesional, termasuk pak Bondan Winarno dan William Wongso.

Artikel selengkapnya bisa dibaca online di sini (web), atau di sini (pdf). (byms)